Flack joined the Army at 17 and did basic training at South Carolina’s Fort Jackson. He went missing 54 years ago, just months after arriving in Korea, and is one of four area service members missing in action since then.

It has been more than five years since Flack’s relatives submitted DNA samples, hoping to help identify his remains. His niece, Sherry Brooks Parker of Marion, said that Defense Department officials told her they will be in touch later this month to talk about Flack’s service to his country.

“I felt wonderful for my mom,” Parker said of her mother, Flack’s sister, who has stages of dementia. “It has bothered her for years and years that he was never brought home.”